VIETNAM
Chinese ship not welcome
The government on Friday accused Beijing of trespassing and demanded a Chinese survey ship in the South China Sea withdraw. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused the survey vessel Haiyang Dizhi 8, and its escort ships, of entering its waters in “recent days,” although it did not give exact dates. “This is completely in the sea area of Vietnam,” a statement said, adding that the ministry had contacted Chinese officials multiple times on different diplomatic channels, “to protest” the act. It has “persistently requested them to ... withdraw all these ships from Vietnam’s waters and respect its sovereignty.”
CHINA
Hong Kong actor stabbed
Hong Kong actor Simon Yam (任達華) was yesterday stabbed while attending an event in the country’s south. His injuries are not life-threatening and a suspect has been detained, police said, adding that the motive was unclear. His manager, Lester Mo, said Yam was stabbed in the stomach and also had a cut on his right hand. The 64-year-old actor was undergoing what Mo called a minor operation at a hospital in Zhongshan. Yam has appeared in more than 125 movies and 40 television series. He played the villain Chen Lo in the 2003 Hollywood film Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life.
INDIA
Flood death toll hits 152
The death toll in monsoon flooding in South Asia has risen to 152 as millions of people and animals continue to face the brunt in three countries, officials said yesterday. At least 90 people have died in Nepal and 50 in Assam state. A dozen people have been killed in Bangladesh. Ten rare one-horned rhinos have died at the Kaziranga National Park after swirling gray waters of the Brahmaputra River burst its banks and entered the reserve, government official Shiv Kumar said. The Assam Disaster Response Authority said 4.8 million people spread over 3,700 villages across the northeastern state were affected by the floods.
UNITED STATES
Man blasts store for eviction
A man kicked out of a store in Cleveland returned and detonated an explosive, police said. The blast on Friday afternoon damaged a small front window and a parked car’s windshield, they said. A woman was treated for back injuries after she jumped out of her car. Employees of a Family Dollar store asked the man to leave because he was panhandling, Cleveland.com quoted Cleveland Deputy Chief of Police Harold Pretel as saying. He returned and placed an explosive device next to the store window, police said. He was arrested shortly after it went off. Police intelligence and arson units were trying to determine the explosive’s makeup, Pretel said.
INDIA
Pilot chided for hijack alert
The authorities have suspended a pilot for accidentally sending a hijack alert to air traffic control during a domestic flight last month, the aviation authority said. The AirAsia India plane, flying from the capital, New Delhi, to Srinagar, suffered a stalled engine and the captain told first officer Ravi Raj to send an emergency code to alert authorities about the situation. Instead of the appropriate code, 7700, Raj transmitted 7500 — the code for a hijacking — the director general of Civil Aviation said in a statement on Friday. Such a transmission is considered a major security alert across the world.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number